how to create symbolic link in Mojave to move iOS backup?

Thanks to VikingOSX for setting us on the right path.

To sum it all up, all you have to do extra now is

*** Give Terminal Full Disk Access ***

You do this in System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Full Disk Access.

Click the padlock, authenticate, then click + and add Terminal to the list (Terminal lives in the Utilities folder inside your Application folder).

Once you do this, you can create symlinks again!

Creating symbolic links should be allowed just fine.

All you should have to is replace the folder where your iOS backups are stored with a symbolic link to its new location.

Not at my mac to check the exact names but if you need I can come back later with the details.

Well, I went ahead and tried and you are right. Creating symbolic links inside ~/Library seems to be forbidden now.

I did not pursue this, but I suppose you may still be able to do it in three steps

(again, I did NOT test).

1) temporarily disable SIP

2) create the symlink

3) reenable SIP

Steps 1) and 3) need to be done when booted from the Recovery partition.

Just to add: I went ahead and tried this.

I successfully backed up my iPhone to an external drive.

Just in case you can’t get your method to work, here is a different idea to consider:

The Sandisk line has several solutions; I have the Sandisk Connect. It will work wirelessly with my iDevices using the free app and then you can simply plug it into your Mac if desired and it will work like a regular USB stick.

https://www.sandisk.com/home

Looking at their site, they now have an iXPAND stick which may work for you.

https://www.sandisk.com/home/mobile-device-storage/ixpand

SIP has no interest in the local Library, so disabling SIP will have no bearing on the new security restrictions in ~/Library. Instead:

Fix Terminal "Operation not permitted" error in macOS Mojave

Its annoying as all H***!

Thank you for pointing this out.

Once we are reminded of this, it is not so annoying.

And, of course, you are right about SIP not being relevant here.

In the end, it turns out be really simple and it will all work.

What I am tired of is that if from Terminal, you choose to run osascript, and attempt to tell System Events to do something, not only do you have to authorize Terminal, but you also have to authorize osascript in the same Security Privacy panel.

VikingOSX wrote:

What I am tired of is that if from Terminal, you choose to run osascript, and attempt to tell System Events to do something, not only do you have to authorize Terminal, but you also have to authorize osascript in the same Security Privacy panel.

Good point.